Getting to the bottom of the issue
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has told the Texas Rangers to look into two state lottery jackpot wins due to integrity concerns.
a Jackpocket-owned retailer in Austin named Winners Corner won a $83.5m jackpot
The first win was for $95m in April 2023 when a company named Rook TX purchased nearly every possible ticket combination through couriers. The second result under the microscope came last week when a Jackpocket-owned retailer in Austin named Winners Corner won a $83.5m jackpot.
In a news release on Monday, Governor Abbott said that Texans need to trust the lottery and know that it is “fair and transparent for everyone.”
The backlash
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick went in person to Winners Corner to see the operation for himself last week. He posted a video of the visit to X and described seeing about 30 terminals running nonstop printing lottery tickets:
Patrick blamed the Texas Lottery Commission for allowing “these businesses to creep into Texas and undermine the integrity of the Texas Lottery.” He went on to say the Rangers should also investigate possible crimes “arising from the Lottery Commission’s actions or failures to act.”
People buy lottery tickets online or by phone with these operations and then couriers purchase the physical tickets on behalf of the customers, often running retail stores themselves where they have access to terminals.
A disappointed sector
Jackpocket, which DraftKings bought last year for $750m, was not available in Texas just hours after the governor’s announcement. The terminals at Winners Corner are also reportedly no longer running after the Texas Lottery Commission banned lottery courier services on Monday.
In response to the backlash, the Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers issued a statement saying that couriers in the state operated legally since 2019 and always cooperated with the authorities. It labeled the ban as “abrupt, disappointing, and unnecessary.”
